Early Igbo Sojourners in Eastern Yorubaland.

The attached pictures depict people at a masquerade dance. The masquerade is the famous Mgbedike masquerade, popular in the Nri-Ọka area. In Picture 1, a man can be seen wearing a hat, with ichi marks on his face.

But these pictures were not taken in Igboland. They were taken in the village of Okitipupa, in the Ondo area of eastern Yorubaland in the 1940s by British colonial officer Edward Harland Duckworth. Who were these people and what was Mgbedike doing in Yorubaland in the '40s?

Ọka tradition relates that their itinerant blacksmiths had penetrated into Yorubaland at some undetermined time in the past. Professor O. N. Njoku says this happened sometime between the 1890s and 1904. But it was in the Colonial Period, from the 1930s, that they began to appear there in significant numbers for Yoruba tradition to take notice of their presence.

It was their skill in gun-smithing that enabled the Ọka to penetrate Yorubaland. While Yoruba gunsmiths used nails and riveted their gun parts, Ọka smiths used screws. Ọka guns could thus be taken apart, cleaned and re-assembled.

The best-known of the Ọka smiths in Yorubaland in the 1930s was one Godwin Okafọ who settled in Igede Ekiti. Ekiti people didn't even know his name and simply called him Ọka. He brought innovations and enriched the smithing tradition of Igede, just as his fellow Ọka craftsworkers were changing the face of the profession in other towns in Ekiti.

This is what an elder from Igede, Chief Akande, had to say about Godwin and his 'brothers':

"These Isobos [a name originally referring to Urhobos, but extended to anyone from the Eastern Region] came and began to make heavy duty guns that could kill 2 or 3 animals at once. They were the first to seriously start producing knives, cutlasses hoes and others in large quantity for sale. Look at Awka [i.e., Godwin Okafọ], he is small in stature but stronger than many around us. He was the person who first started producing short, rather than the usual long, guns here. Not only that, these Awka people performed their smithing activity by producing, for the first time, double-barrel guns that could kill a whole district if there is war..."

(" Economic History of Ekiti People in Nigeria, 1900 - 1960" by Jumoke Oloidi PhD. Thesis, UNN)

#Nonso Uche Nnajide

cc: Bkayy, Eastlink, Sufferingboy, Slayerforever, AnambraIstson

Reserved space

When trouble sleep jejely and yanga go wake am, Mr op, wetin you dey find God go let you get am o!

Easterners always trying to say they were everywhere. Flat headed adopted sons of Jews.

Interesting

Hmmmm

Yoruba's or should I say all tribe that live in border states share similar culture with dia neighbors.They exchange culture tru trading,marriage,religion,celebration and sometimes conquest

Yoruba's in Oyo up north share some similarities with Nupes and co

Ogun yorubas share similarities with the piple of bene rep

Yoruba's near east share similarities with there ijaw,Bini and Igbo neighbors

Same as Igbos

Igbo's in the west share similarities with there Bini,igala and some tribe in south south

Igbo's up north share similarities with idoma and co

Igbo's in the east share similarities with efik,Ibibio,anang and co

Igbo's down south share similarities with ijaws and co

So na so im be

Besides that Igbo juju men were among the best in those days,,There presence was felt almost everywhere in the south tru there long juju

Fight will start soon

PENNYSWAP:
Fight will start soon

What rubbish?

Those guys travelled here and they travelled back



So what's the point of this thread?

Igboid:
Early Igbo Sojourners in Eastern Yorubaland.



cc: Bkayy, Eastlink, Sufferingboy, Slayerforever, AnambraIstson

Wowwwwww! Incredible!

Awka went far honestly. Cradle of Igbo civilization?

Not today we've been helping the yoruba people

Igboid:
Early Igbo Sojourners in Eastern Yorubaland.

The attached pictures depict people at a masquerade dance. The masquerade is the famous Mgbedike masquerade, popular in the Nri-Ọka area. In Picture 1, a man can be seen wearing a hat, with ichi marks on his face.

But these pictures were not taken in Igboland. They were taken in the village of Okitipupa, in the Ondo area of eastern Yorubaland in the 1940s by British colonial officer Edward Harland Duckworth. Who were these people and what was Mgbedike doing in Yorubaland in the '40s?

Ọka tradition relates that their itinerant blacksmiths had penetrated into Yorubaland at some undetermined time in the past. Professor O. N. Njoku says this happened sometime between the 1890s and 1904. But it was in the Colonial Period, from the 1930s, that they began to appear there in significant numbers for Yoruba tradition to take notice of their presence.

It was their skill in gun-smithing that enabled the Ọka to penetrate Yorubaland. While Yoruba gunsmiths used nails and riveted their gun parts, Ọka smiths used screws. Ọka guns could thus be taken apart, cleaned and re-assembled.

The best-known of the Ọka smiths in Yorubaland in the 1930s was one Godwin Okafọ who settled in Igede Ekiti. Ekiti people didn't even know his name and simply called him Ọka. He brought innovations and enriched the smithing tradition of Igede, just as his fellow Ọka craftsworkers were changing the face of the profession in other towns in Ekiti.

This is what an elder from Igede, Chief Akande, had to say about Godwin and his 'brothers':

"These Isobos [a name originally referring to Urhobos, but extended to anyone from the Eastern Region] came and began to make heavy duty guns that could kill 2 or 3 animals at once. They were the first to seriously start producing knives, cutlasses hoes and others in large quantity for sale. Look at Awka [i.e., Godwin Okafọ], he is small in stature but stronger than many around us. He was the person who first started producing short, rather than the usual long, guns here. Not only that, these Awka people performed their smithing activity by producing, for the first time, double-barrel guns that could kill a whole district if there is war..."

(" Economic History of Ekiti People in Nigeria, 1900 - 1960" by Jumoke Oloidi PhD. Thesis, UNN)

#Nonso Uche Nnajide

cc: Bkayy, Eastlink, Sufferingboy, Slayerforever, AnambraIstson

Educative!

I knew we had few migration of igbos into Eastern Yoruboid territory in the 18000 & 19000's, but never knew they had impact like the Urhobos who dominated the economy.

Efewestern:


Educative!

I knew we had few migration of igbos into Eastern Yoruboid territory in the 18000 & 19000's, but never knew they had impact like the Urhobos who dominated the economic space.

Also, It's hard to believe the Igbos were mistakenly called Isobo, the name was reserved for only the Isoko/Urhobo speaking people. It could be that majority of the Urhobos also ventured in weapon development.

Very unlikely.

Efewestern:


Educative!

I knew we had few migration of igbos into Eastern Yoruboid territory in the 18000 & 19000's, but never knew they had impact like the Urhobos who dominated the economic space.

Also, It's hard to believe the Igbos were mistakenly called Isobo, the name was reserved for only the Isoko/Urhobo speaking people. It could be that majority of the Urhobos also ventured in weapon development.

What is wrong with people like you?

The text was unmistakable that Yorubas then referred to anything East of Edo as Isobo!
They didn't Know about Igbo.
And the name of Igbo blacksmiths involved were as well mentioned, and you still want to claim it for Urhobos?
You even saw an Igbo masquerade there photographed by the colonial officer in Okitipupa.

Are you okay at all?

Oka(Awka) blacksmiths went as far as Cameroon making weapons for local people there.
In Igueben Edo, they have IdumuOka who were descendants of Oka blacksmiths who brought their superior skills to the the area.

Urhobos were never known for metallurgy,
Ndiigbo were great with Metallurgy with multiple ancient iron ore minning sites to show for it. We have Igbo clans known for Metallurgy, Oka was the most popular, but there were Nkwere ( Opiaegbe) "the gun makers", Agbaja blacksmiths, Abriba people, etc. Stop the madness already.

SlayerForever:


Very unlikely.

Yes, very unlikely, the overwhelming population of the Urhobos in Eastern yoruboid territory as at the time mentioned in the OP could be the reason every non-indigene were referred to as Isobo.

I'm not just ruling out the possibilities of some of them venturing into the development of these tools. No doubt, the Igbos were good in blacksmithing, we could see that in some of their artifacts like the igbo-Ukwu bronze.

Igboid:


What is wrong with people like you?

The text was unmistakable that Yorubas then referred to anything East of Edo as Isobo!
They didn't Know about Igbo.
And the name of Igbo blacksmiths involved were as well mentioned, and you still want to claim it for Urhobos?
You even saw an Igbo masquerade there photographed by the colonial officer in Okitipupa.

Are you okay at all?

Oka(Awka) blacksmiths went as far as Cameroon making weapons for local people there.
In Igueben Edo, they have IdumuOka who were descendants of Oka blacksmiths who brought their superior skills to the the area.

Urhobos were never known for metallurgy,
Ndiigbo were great with Metallurgy with multiple ancient iron ore minning sites to show for it. We have Igbo clans known for Metallurgy, Oka was the most popular, but there were Nkwere ( Opiaegbe) "the gun makers", Agbaja blacksmiths, Abriba people, etc. Stop the madness already.

Your outburst was just not neccesary. Quite disappointed.

I never claimed that the Blacksmiths were Isobo's, only tried to reason out why everyone was called Isobo when the Isobo's weren't even part of the Eastern region.

I Went further to state that there could be a probability of them venturing into tools development because of their high population in this territory in the 1900's.

Efewestern:


Your outburst was just not neccesary. Quite disappointed.

I never claimed that the Blacksmiths were Isobo's, only tried to reason out why everyone was called Isobo when the Isobo's weren't even part of the Eastern region.

I Went further to state that there could be a probability of them venturing into tools development because of their high population in this territory in the 1900's.

Nah.
What you tried to do was claim Igbo feat for your Isoko people or atleast try to water it down by attaching your Isoko people to it.
It's an evil thing to do.

The Isokos were never known for metallurgy in history, not at home, not abroad.

So how exactly could you link this article to Isoko, even when it was made obvious to you that the Yorubas referred to anyone East of Ondo who is not Edo as Isobo?
Are Igbos not East of Edo?

What you did wasn't cool. I'm sick of Nigerians always trying to diminish Igbo feats.

Igboid:


Nah.
What you tried to do was claim Igbo feat for your Isoko people or atleast try to water it down by attaching your Isoko people to it.
It's an evil thing to do.

The Isokos were never known for metallurgy in history, not at home, not abroad.

So how exactly could you link this article to Isoko, even when it was made obvious to you that the Yorubas referred to anyone East of Ondo who is not Edo as Isobo?
Are Igbos not East of Edo?

What you did wasn't cool. I'm sick of Nigerians always trying to diminish Igbo feats.

You were simply paranoid, you should know this is a section were we are free to debate anything and beside i wasn't even claiming the achievements of the Igbo blacksmiths. Only reasoned why a known ethnic group was called Isobo because that was a tag used strictly for the Urhobo/isokos, not even Edo was called Isobo.

I will modify my OP because I don't want this thread to get derailed.

Efewestern:


Your outburst was just not neccesary. Quite disappointed.

I never claimed that the Blacksmiths were Isobo's, only tried to reason out why everyone was called Isobo when the Isobo's weren't even part of the Eastern region.

This is not hard to understand. Urhobo people were the first large group of people from the east of the Ondo area to settle in the Ondo axis where we are told they were involved in rubber tapping and some other agricultural pursuits. When the Igbo (eg. Awka migrants) also began to arrive there, the Yoruba of the Ondo axis lumped everyone who came to their land from the eastern direction and called them Isobos.

No, there is zero evidence of Urhobo working as smiths in Yorubaland.

Akintundexxy:
Easterners always trying to say they were everywhere. Flat headed adopted sons of Jews.

u really need to shut up and learn...

bomb24:


u really need to shut up and learn...

I'm from Okitipupa, I don't agree with most of the things you wrote up there. I know well the history of our land.
So you should think who needs to do the shutting.

Akintundexxy:

I'm from Okitipupa, I don't agree with most of the things you wrote up there. I know well the history of our land.
So you should think who needs to do the shutting.

history is broad, go back to yur history book unlearn and relearn...

Akintundexxy:

I'm from Okitipupa, I don't agree with most of the things you wrote up there. I know well the history of our land.
So you should think who needs to do the shutting.

Dr Jumoke Oloidi who wrote the PhD thesis from which the post was taken is an academic historian from Ekiti. She did her research in Ekiti and environs and interviewed old men who were around in the early 1900s when Awka blacksmiths like Godwin were active in the area.

Duckworth who took the pictures was on ground in Okitipupa in the 1930s and 1940s and took the pictures by himself. You were not here in the 1930s, so Duckworth's witness is 100 times stronger than yours.

Tell us your own research experiences. 'I'm from Okitipupa' is not a history credential.

RedboneSmith:


Dr Jumoke Oloidi who wrote the PhD thesis from which the post was taken is an academic historian from Ekiti. She did her research in Ekiti and environs and interviewed old men who were around in the early 1900s when Awka blacksmiths like Godwin were active in the area.

Duckworth who took the pictures was on ground in Okitipupa in the 1930s and 1940s and took the pictures by himself. You were not here in the 1930s, so Duckworth's witness is 100 times stronger than yours.

Tell us your own research experiences. 'I'm from Okitipupa' is not a history credential.

Brb

Why do we let the seeds of division grow in our hearts? We are all one people.

RedboneSmith:


This is not hard to understand. Urhobo people were the first large group of people from the east of the Ondo area to settle in the Ondo axis where we are told they were involved in rubber tapping and some other agricultural pursuits. When the Igbo (eg. Awka migrants) also began to arrive there, the Yoruba of the Ondo axis lumped everyone who came to their land from the eastern direction and called them Isobos.

No, there is zero evidence of Urhobo working as smiths in Yorubaland.

Noted, made corrections to my earlier comment.

I meant no harm and I wasn't trying to derail.

Igboid:


Nah.
What you tried to do was claim Igbo feat for your Isoko people or atleast try to water it down by attaching your Isoko people to it.
It's an evil thing to do.

The Isokos were never known for metallurgy in history, not at home, not abroad.

So how exactly could you link this article to Isoko, even when it was made obvious to you that the Yorubas referred to anyone East of Ondo who is not Edo as Isobo?
Are Igbos not East of Edo?

What you did wasn't cool. I'm sick of Nigerians always trying to diminish Igbo feats.

To be fair I think the Nigerian unhealthy ethnic conflict of interests got to you there. His explanation seems legit, I don't think he meant it the way you are taking it
Lets not spoil the nice thread

Efewestern:


Noted, made corrections to my earlier comment.

I meant no harm and I wasn't trying to derail.

no wahala gee I understand your point.

Akintundexxy:

Brb

Bros, we are still waiting o!
It's been ages.

Only the Gospel Truth is Good enough for Yorubas

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanguardngr.com/2019/02/how-awka-lost-its-fame-as-blacksmith-city/amp/